In addition to the 1D product barcodes that you see every day, a different and more complex kind of barcode
has become popular in recent years. These barcodes are easy to spot, because they encode data along both their
width and height, in a matrix of squares. For example, you may have already seen a barcode in the QR Code or
Data Matrix format:
You can enable or disable scanning of these formats individually in Settings.
These barcodes can be scanned like product barcodes. They contain more information than a 1D product
barcode, and more complex types of information. These formats can encode a link to website, a phone number,
contact information, and more.
As a result, on the result screen, the action buttons you will find after scanning such a barcode depend
on the type of the barcode's contents.
Hyperlink or URL
Most commonly, the barcode contains a hyperlink to a web site. You can press the URL itself to open a browser
to view that web page, or otherwise access the URI's contents. You will also see several action buttons:
- Open browser. This also accesses the URI in the same way, typically by opening the device's browser.
Note that some URIs, like "market:" URIs, will be opened by another application; "market:" URIs are opened
by the Android Market app for example.
- Share via email. Share the link by sending an e-mail.
- Share via SMS. Share the link by sending an SMS, or text message.
Contact Information
If the barcode contains contact information encoded in the MECARD or vCard format, you will see several buttons
depending on what pieces of contact information are encoded:
- Add contact. This option will always be present; it adds the contact information to your device's
address book.
- Show map. If the contact information contains an address, this will attempt to show the address on a map
using Google Maps.
- Dial number. If the contact information contains a phone number, this will open the device's dialer with the
number ready to dial.
- Send email. Likewise in the contact information contains an e-mail address, this will open an e-mail client
on the device to compose and e-mail to that address.
E-mail address
If the contents of the barcode are an e-mail address, or a "mailto:" URI, then you will be able to:
- Add contact. This adds the contact information to your device's
address book containing only the e-mail address
- Send email. This will open an e-mail client on the device to compose and e-mail to that address.
Telephone number
Similarly, if the barcode contains only a telephone number, you can:
- Add contact. This adds the contact information to your device's
address book containing only the phone number
- Dial number. Opens the device's dialer with the number ready to dial.
SMS
If the barcode encodes an "sms:" or "mms:" URI, then you will see buttons to:
- Send SMS. Opens the device's messaging application and composes and SMS, or text message, to the
number in the barcode.
- Send MMS. Same, but attempts to compose an MMS, or multimedia text message.
Calendar
Barcodes can also encode information about an event, at a certain time and place. If you scan a barcode
containing information in the vCal format, you will be able to:
- Add to calendar. Opens the device's calendar application and creates a new event with the information
in the barcode, including date and time, place, name, and so forth.
Geographic location
It is possible to store a location in a barcode, as a "geo:" URI containing latitude and longitude. If
one of these is scanned, then the result screen will contain buttons that allow you to:
- Show map. This attempts to open Google Maps or other mapping application to show the location from the barcode
on a map.
- Get directions. Opens Google Maps in order to try to get directions from the current location to that
geographical location.
Wi-fi
Barcodes can encode the details of a wi-fi network, including network name, type and password. Scanning
one enables you to connect to a wi-fi network easily:
- Connect to Network. This attempts to connect the device to the wi-fi network named in the barcode, using
the supplied type and password. You will see a screen that shows the progress of this connection.
Text
If the contents of the barcode are not recognized as any of the special types above, it will be treated
as simple text. In that case, you can:
- Web search. Search for the text by querying Google Web Search.
- Share via email. Share the text by sending an e-mail.
- Share via SMS. Share the text by sending an SMS, or text message.
- Custom search. If you have set a custom search URL, this will allow you to search your custom search
URL for the text.